Girl Talk
by soundsofthecity
Summary: After the last mission to bring Sasuke back fails, Ino becomes intent on finding out who Sakura likes more: Naruto or Sasuke.


"Oh c'mon, Sakura!" Ino leaned over the table as well as her mixed salad she'd been picking at for the last 15 minutes. "Just spit it out. Who do you like more? Naruto or Sasuke?"

Before reprimanding her friend for even asking such a thing, Sakura glanced around the small restaurant to make sure no one had actually heard the question, not that she was the slightest bit inclined to answer.

"Why are you acting like you're offended?" Ino growled a bit too loudly. She stared at the pretty gold bangles she wore on her wrist and then swatted her ponytail behind her shoulder. "I mean, if you _ask_ me - "

"Which I'm not," Sakura cut in, pushing her own salad away. She'd wanted the fish, but Ino had ordered her salad first, and she didn't want Ino to harass her about the extra five pounds she'd gained recently.

"What_ever_." Ino sucked her lemonade from the straw so noisily, Sakura, again, looked around in embarrassment.

"You're such a pig!" Sakura muttered. "You eat loud, you talk loud, and you even _drink_ loud! Can't you do anything quietly?"

"Well, there's my answer right there, Sakura," Ino replied coyly. She put her elbows on the table - which Sakura scowled at her for - and clasped her fingers together so she could set her chin on them. Her clear blue eyes sparkled with mischief. "If you don't like_ loud_, that would indicate to me Sasuke is your choice."

"Hey! I didn't say that, and - " Sakura picked up a crumpled straw wrapper and threw it at Ino. It hit her right between the eyes.

"_Hey_ yourself!" Ino cried, grabbed the wad of paper and threw it at Sakura, but Sakura being a _ninja_, moved quickly to the side and dodged it.

"Heh. Some kunoichi _you_ are!" She couldn't help but point out as she waggled a finger at Ino patronizingly.

"Oh _shut_ up!" Ino rolled her eyes. "And don't change the subject. You can't lie to me. I've known you since we were little. I know you still have feelings for Sasuke. _Everybody_ does."

Sakura's eyebrows lifted. She dropped her hands into her lap, stiffening. "Everyone?" she asked slowly. "Who exactly is everyone, and why are they discussing my love life?"

"Oh ho ho," Ino laughed at her. "Since when are you calling it a love life? Sasuke's God know's where, doing God know's what with the Akatsuki, and Naruto. Don't even get me started on _that_ boy!" She slapped her hand hard on the table, her brows pinched together so tightly it could've passed for a unibrow.

"Don't talk about Naruto like you know him," Sakura said, trying to keep her voice at a reasonable volume. "And what do you mean? What is so wrong with Naruto?"

"So it's Naruto you like better then?" Ino wrapped her thumb and index finger around the base of her lemonade glass and smirked.

Sakura huffed. "This is such a _stupid_ conversation. I can't believe we're even talking about this!"

"Get off it. You're the one who invited me out to lunch so shortly after coming back from that mission where you tried to kill - "

"_Ino_." Sakura's voice was deadly serious.

Ino gave her a look, shrugged, and seemed to decide that topic of conversation might be pushing it too far.

"Well, fine. We don't have to talk about _that_," Ino said, picking up her fork and stabbing at a slice of tomato. "But it's unfair if you ask me. What you did to Naruto. Telling him you liked him, I mean come on, how low can you _get_ - "

Sakura's face showed her surprise. "How do you... know about that?"

"Hello, I overheard Shikamaru and Sai talking about it, and there was something really strange about Naruto when all of you came back. Ugh, it pisses me off so much that I wasn't able to go. At least you got to _see_ Sasuke again - "

"If you don't shut up Ino-pig, I am going to punch a hole through your forehead with my fist." She started to remove her black glove from her pouch and tugged it on, noticing it felt more snug than usual. _Dammit_!

"You don't _own_ Sasuke, you know," Ino muttered, stuffing several pieces of lettuce into her mouth at once. "If anyone has rights to him, it's probably Naruto, yeah? I mean he's the one who's spent all this time chasing him like some kind of _freak_. I mean who _does_ that?"

Sakura looked at her plate, her fist resting beside it. "He... he promised me," she said quietly.

"Like it's really about that? I dunno. It's weird his obsession with bringing back Sasuke. I mean," Ino lowered her voice as such information was confidential and they shouldn't have been talking about any of this in a public area, "Most of the Rookie 9 is for taking Sasuke out, right? They're tired of, _you_ know." Ino made a vague hand gesture.

"I know," Sakura admitted, a tremor in her voice. "I know everyone's against giving Sasuke any more chances, but you don't understand! I was there, so close to him, and I could _have_ - "

Ino chewed loudly on her salad, watching Sakura as she fumbled for the right words.

Sakura touched her fingers to her lips. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him. I do, I guess. Still love him."

"But you love Naruto, too," Ino said without hesitation.

Sakura's cheeks heated up. She looked at the red tablecloth and nodded. "I care for the both of them. I really do." She raised her eyes to her friend. "And I know I hurt Naruto, but I thought I was doing the right thing by taking that burden off him since it was _my_ fault - "

Ino sighed as she waved her fork in front of her. "_Nothing_ is your fault. You aren't responsible for Sasuke's decision to leave. It had nothing to do with you, and, what you tried to do, I guess I see you had good intentions, but you know," she tapped her fork against her glass, "a good team is built on trust, and yeah, I mean, I don't think your team has ever really had any of that compared to mine and with Kiba, Hinata, and Shino's team. Like, I hate to tell you this, but your team has always been super dysfunctional."

"You think?" Sakura laughed humorlessly. She set her elbow on the table, chin in her hand and glared at the salad on Ino's plate. "It's not like I don't know. I wanted to become stronger since they were both supporting me the entire time. I could never do _anything_, and I thought that after all my training with Tsunade-sama I'd be able to help, but when it came down to it, I froze and couldn't do it!"

"And Naruto saved you again," Ino finished, dropping her fork onto her plate. Delicately, she dabbed her napkin against her mouth. "I don't know. This is why team members should never get romantically involved. I mean, I've never even _thought_ of Shikamaru and Chouji like that!" She scrunched her face in disgust. "I mean just _ew_. I remember when we were told what teams we were gonna be on and I thought 'God I'm with a lazy-ass and a fatty,' but now they're like brothers to me, and after we lost," Ino glanced away, the side of her mouth trembling, "When we lost Asuma-sensei, I mean, it only made us closer."

Numbly, Sakura nodded. "I'd like to think of me, and Naruto, and Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei and even Sai as family, but, yeah, there's always some distance between all of us, like it just wasn't ever meant to work from the beginning. I mean, why the three of us?"

"Do you wish it had been different? Like, what if it was you, Naruto, and I don't know, Kiba. Naruto's probably the less annoying of the two so you mighta realized how great Naruto was and wouldn't be hung up on Sasuke still."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, brushing invisible crumbs from off her outfit. "I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't."

"Alright. That's fine, but, you should really go apologize to Naruto. I mean, I tried to ask Shikamaru for details because I'd heard that they heard Naruto had acted very strange on the way home - "

"What?" Sakura asked. "I thought they'd said he was acting more like himself than he had in a long time?"

"Yeah right. Shikamaru is a genius. He thinks Naruto's hiding something big, but now that you went and lied to him and said all those things, he's probably not even gonna tell you, Sakura. And he even saved your butt before Sasuke could kill you - "

"It's unclear as to whether Sasuke would have killed me. He might've just grazed me - "

"_God_," Ino moaned. "Are you listening to yourself? He tried to _kill_ you!"

"No it's not like that! I just think he's not in his right state of mind. He stabbed that girl he'd been traveling with, but he didn't kill her. He just... asked me to kill her for him."

"Yes, you're right. Sasuke is a _saint_. What was I thinking? Personally, I think Naruto's quite a catch, but I wouldn't bother. I mean I can't compete after Hinata threw herself in front of that jackass who destroyed the village."

Sakura unconsciously scowled.

"Oh what's this? Are you jealous?" Ino laughed. "But from what I hear, Naruto never answered her or anything. I mean, yeah, you think that guy'd be hard up for some action, but all he can think about is Sasuke. It's strange." She tapped her chin with her fingers. "I wonder what would happen if Sasuke threw himself in front of Naruto and confessed while attempting to save Naruto's life? But I can't see that happening _at_ all!"

"I don't know." Sakura shook her head. "Sometimes I think I know what's going on with that, but only because when I've seen them together those last two times, I feel so..."

"Left out?" Ino asked.

"Kind of, yeah. I mean. They share a similar background in a way, and I can't... relate to that. I've only been out of the village on missions. They probably see me as some sheltered girl they need to protect still."

"Well, Sasuke apparently doesn't seeing as he tried to **KILL** you."

Sakura shot her a glare. "I get the point, _Ino_."

"You didn't finish your salad. Didn't you like it?" Ino asked, wiping her finger in some dressing and licking it off her finger.

"I lost my appetite," Sakura answered, staring at the other female ninja pointedly.

"That's probably for the best," Ino smiled malevolently, "Since it looks like you've put on a few pounds. What? Have you been finding solace in pints of chocolate ice cream again?"

Sakura's fist tightened and had she been holding a glass, it probably would've broken. "Ugh. I don't know why I bother. You're about as civilized to go to lunch with as Naru - " She paused, her mouth wide open. She promptly shut it.

"Hmm. I see. I wonder which one would choose you in the end. Maybe it's psychological. Maybe you pushed both of them away somehow because subconsciously your brain knows neither one are good for you. I mean, think about it. When did you become the most strong? When both of them were gone from the village. Whenever you're around them, you turn into this sobbing, needy princess. The one time you kicked ass against that Akatsuki guy, they weren't even there - "

"I wasn't alone, Ino," Sakura said coldly. "I was with Chiyo-sama."

"Well whatever. She was an old lady and couldn't have done anything without you, so shut up. I'm trying to pay you a compliment!"

Sakura smiled weakly. "I think we should talk about something else. Do you wanna walk to the flower shop? Maybe you're right. I should bring some flowers to Naruto as an apology."

Ino looked surprise, but she quickly smiled. "Of course. I think that'd be great. But do you think he'll really appreciate flowers?"

"Naruto loves plants," Sakura mused softly.

"Weird. I never would've guessed that. I wish I would've known when we'd needed extra help around the shop. Well, I think we have the perfect flower for him. Now it just depends on what kind of impression you're wanting to make."

"Impression?" Sakura asked uncertainly as she stood from the chair. "What do you mean?"

Ino cast her napkin onto the table, tilting her head, one hand perched on a hip. "You know. Do you want a friendship kind of flower or a romantic kind of flower?"

"Ino," Sakura warned, leaving her behind as she sought the exit.

"What. I'm just saying! If Sasuke's no longer an option, you might as well try to repair what you have with Naruto - "

"Shut up," Sakura growled. "Naruto understands what I was trying to do, and he never stays angry for very long."

"Mhmm," Ino said, catching up to Sakura and winding an arm around her waist as they left the restaurant. "You don't fool me, y'know, but I'll be here any time you wanna talk about it."

Sakura tensed, but decided to let it go. She smiled at her friend and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Thanks," she said, looking up at the sky, watching three tiny birds chase each other into a nearby fruit tree. "I'll keep that in mind."


End file.
